A hyperbaric chamber looks just like a combination of a subway and a spaceship. "Passengers" put on masks and inhale oxygen. The pressure here is one and a half times greater than the atmospheric pressure. Helps with difficult-to-heal wounds, extensive burns, chronic inflammation of the bones.

Sławek Urwalski leaves thehyperbaric chambersmiling. "I feel better," he confesses. - It's amazing how fast medicine moves forward. Antibiotics plus the chamber and it is finally healing - he is glad. All his troubles began after an Achilles tendon operation. An infection has set in. Nothing worked. Then the doctors suggested treatments in a pressure chamber. "You'll breathe oxygen," they said. Mr. Sławek has already undergone 27 treatments lasting one and a half hours. - It works. You just have to get used to pressure surges - he adds. The first sensation in most patients is a crackling sound in the ears, similar to the ones we hear when an airplane is climbing or landing.

Hyperbaric chamber: pure oxygen

There are four hyperbaric chambers in Poland, which can be entered at once by 13 people - in Warsaw, 6 - in Gdynia, and two for one person in Siemianowice and Wrocław. Mazowieckie Centrum is one of 480 in Europe. The treatments are financed by the National He alth Fund. Treatment cannot be purchased privately. Before entering, the patients change their clothes to a cotton uniform (no pockets, so that even accidentally no one brings anything dangerous, e.g. a lighter, because it may cause an explosion). They are given water to drink (it helps to equalize the pressure during compression and decompression) and special masks. They take books and newspapers with them so as not to get bored. They have the radio on all the time. For safety, a nurse is with them. Outside, there is an engineer operating the 19-ton equipment and an anesthesiologist. When everyone is seated comfortably on chairs with face masks, compressed air to 1.5 bar is blown into the chamber. Patients breathe pure oxygen for one hour (normally the air contains 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen). In this way, they provide the body with 15 times more oxygen than when breathing normally. The treatment speeds up healing, and in some situations it can even save lives.

Important

Indications for treatment with hyperbaric oxygen

  • difficult-to-heal wounds (in the course of diabetic foot syndrome, after injuries and radiotherapy),
  • chronic osteitis,
  • bacteri altissue infection,
  • carbon monoxide poisoning (carbon monoxide poisoning),
  • extensive burns (2nd and 3rd degree burns, over 20% of the body surface).

The hyperbaric chamber is not a miracle method

- Once upon a time, the pressure chamber was considered a magic invention. It was supposed to help in everything, e.g. aging skin. But there is no evidence that it is effective in prolonging youth, explains Dr. Żurek. Anyone who wants to enter the chamber can not. Patients are referred by a doctor after ruling out contraindications (e.g. problems with the respiratory system), because excess oxygen in the blood sometimes causes side effects, even life-threatening.

Conditions for admission to treatment in a hyperbaric chamber

  • a referral from a he alth insurance doctor,
  • he alth insurance document (valid booklet or pension slip),
  • chest X-ray image (from the last 12 months with description),
  • ECG test results,
  • information sheets of previous treatment,
  • any additional tests required by the doctor.
Where to go for help

NZOZ MAZOVIAN CENTER FOR HYPERBARIC THERAPY AND WOUND TREATMENT ul. Wołoska 137, building O, 02-507 Warsaw, tel .: 022 610 31 44, www.hiperbaria.pl Qualification for elective treatment takes place from Monday to Friday, 8.00-14.00. The consultation date can be arranged by phone.

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